New York Knicks: Kevin Knox’s performance comes in the nick of time

Amidst inconsistent play and critical sources, New York Knicks rookie Kevin Knox put forth his best performance in the NBA on Saturday night against the Bucks.

The beginning of New York Knicks rookie Kevin Knox‘s NBA career hasn’t gotten off to the start his Summer League play would suggest.

An ankle injury knocked him out of seven consecutive games, while coach David Fizdale’s ever-shuffling rotation has made it difficult for him to get into any sort of rhythm. All in all, it’s been an underwhelming start for the rookie, to the tune of just 8.6 points on 34.2 percent shooting to go along with 2.8 rebounds per game.

If that weren’t enough, an article written by Marc Berman of The New York Post had a number of anonymous scouts and coaches throw criticism Knox’s way, ranging from his shoot-first mentality to simply stating the Knicks would’ve been better off selecting someone else in the draft.

If only for one night, Knox put all the criticism to bed, dropping in a career-high 26 points with five 3-pointers to help New York topple the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime by a final score of 136-134.

After shooting just 32.7 percent from deep prior to this game, seeing Knox’s outside shot fall was a welcome sight, but the real key to this breakout performance was his attacking mentality.

He’d been prone to simply hang around the perimeter, but it was those drives to the bucket that helped Knox thrive in Las Vegas this past summer, and it’s what played a massive role in his showing against Milwaukee.

Maybe Fizdale should try to find the rookie more time with the ball in his hands, but no matter what, the 19-year-old forward should never settle because it ends up opening everything up for both himself and his teammates.

In an era where players are tracked from high school with a wealth of statistical information at our fingertips, we expect these rookies to come into the league with little to no flaws.

Seeing fellow draftees like Luka Doncic and Jaren Jackson Jr. play so well couldn’t have been easy for Knox or Knicks fans, but sometimes we just have to remember this dude is still only 19 years old.

There will be rough patches — probably a good amount of them — but it’s games like this one that should serve as a reminder as to why this dude was taken ninth overall and that patience from everyone will be the ultimate key to his eventual success.